Batteries
How are batteries recycled, what is recoverable?
By far the largest single type of batteries sold to consumers on the planet. Until 2008 it has never been realistic to consider recovering the materials within the battery because of the low value of the materials. For the first time Scientists have developed alkaline battery recycling process that really works. 1.8 billion Allkaline Batteries are sold world wide in 2006.
Alkaline batteries contain zinc, manganese, carbon, plastic, paper, electrolyte and metal.
- The new recycling process focuses on the recovery of the zinc, manganese, and metal.
- The batteries are first ground into small pieces, thus exposing the active materials on the anode and cathode.
- All of the materials are then put into a process to mechanically and chemically release the zinc and the manganese and convert them into a slurry like substance.
- This slurry is concentrated into a paste by eliminating the majority of the water. The metals are recovered through standard mechanical techniques and sent for resale to either a scrap yard or to a primary smelter. The concentrated zinc and manganese paste is sent to another primary smelter that focuses on the production of zinc and manganese.
- The sale of all of the chemicals does not yield a profit because the materials recovered must still be refined and purified. (As mentioned, these materials are very inexpensive when new, hence the low value of the recovered material.) There is a cost associated with the recycling effort and it is more expensive than other disposal options.
My opinion is that this is truly recycling, and for the huge volumes of batteries used by consumers, it must be done.
Doug Campbell.
Source: Batteries Digest.